This invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of raspberry plant that has been given the cultivar name or denomination `Wilhelm`. The new cultivar was developed from hybridization of the selection B175-3 (an unpatented proprietary cultivar) as the seed parent with the selection B8-4 (an unpatented proprietary cultivar) as the pollen parent. The parents were crossed by Stephen Wilhelm in 1986, whereafter fruit and seed were collected to produce seedlings for field planting in Watsonville, Calif. in 1988. The new cultivar was selected from these seedlings by Carlos Fear in 1989 for its ease of harvest and attractive, well-flavored fruit. Since its selection the `Wilhelm` plants have been evaluated in noncommercial experimental plantings in Oxnard and Watsonville, Calif. The cultivar has been asexually propagated by in vitro shoot tip culture, root sucker division and root cuttings, and has been shown to maintain the desired and distinguishing characteristics after propagation over several generations.
The `Wilhelm` raspberry plant produces a mid-season primocane crop which begins in mid August and continues until early-mid November. The floricane crop begins in mid-late May and continues until early July. Both the primocane and floricane yields (about 7.4 to 11.8 T/acre and about 4.7 to 8.8 T/acre, respectively) are high relative to other comparable cultivars. The fruit of the `Wilhelm` raspberry plant is very attractive, with small drupelets of a bright red color which darkens only slightly after harvest.